Alleged Card Skimmer Busted

A 20-year-old waitress at a Washington state Red Robin has been arrested for alleged credit card skimming and King County authorities give credit to BECU, the $11.5 billion institution in Tukwila, Wash., for the information that broke the case.

More than $16,000 in fraudulent activity apparently occurred in accounts of eight BECU members and, in investigating the cases, BECU security determined that there was a single point of commonality, namely that all had dined at a Red Robin restaurant in Des Moines, Wash.

Todd Pietzch, a BECU spokesman, said that the credit union turned that information over to the sheriff’s department, which narrowed the cases down to a single waitress.

Accounts at other institutions may also be involved but, said Pietzch, BECU, unlike many other financial institutions, “does not want to simply write off a loss and move on. Where we can we want to help law enforcement find the culprit. This was an instance where we could.”

Pietzch added, “We don’t want members to be afraid to use their cards. And we do want them to monitor activity on their accounts and to notify us when they see irregularities”

He said that he could not recall a similar incident involving a restaurant employee and BECU member accounts.